


Hot Cocoa and Blood

by StephaniD



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, Hollstein - Freeform, Hollstien
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-17
Updated: 2015-03-17
Packaged: 2018-03-18 07:56:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3562112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StephaniD/pseuds/StephaniD
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Laura gets an idea for a date with Carmilla, but conversation goes sour and the girls end up getting in an argument.<br/>Thanks to my QPP for the title.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Cuteness

Between Carmilla being nocturnal, Laura not (Carm called it diurnal), classes, and homework, the girls didn't have much free time together during the week. One day Laura's 3-hour lecture got cancelled and she gleefully hurried back to her dorm. It was the middle of the day so Carmilla was sound asleep (and had stolen her yellow pillow again) as Laura dropped her bag on her bed and kicked her shoes off. Sunlight entered the room at a steep enough angle not to touch Carmilla's bed, but it bounced off the tile floor and diffused around the room, warm and calming. Laura emptied her pockets and curled up next to the vampire, not really tired, content just to watch.   
  
"Afternoon, Cutie." Carmilla murmured, voice still sleepy. Laura smiled at the nickname, kiss on the lips, and Carmilla's cool fingers gently brushing her hair from her face.   
"What a good way to wake up from a nap." She blearily opened her eyes, then grabbed her phone. "Oh no, I slept through my math class!" She groaned.   
"So? You want to be a journalist." Carmilla grabbed some blood out of the minifridge.   
"How many times have you been to college? It's a required gen-ed."   
"I usually only stuck around for a semester, maybe 2." Carmilla shrugged. "Try to mess up the ceremony, get punished if I succeed, and then get about 15 years to do whatever I liked."   
"So you've never really had the full 4-year college experience? Maybe you should take freshman orientation." Laura teased, ignoring Carmilla's mention of her mother.   
"I've taken it." Carmilla monotoned, sitting on her bed. "4 times, including this past semester."   
"Yeesh." Laura frowned in sympathy as she sat up to lay her head on her girlfriend's shoulder.   
"Back to better topics, it was a very nice surprise to wake up and find you in my bed."   
"Don't say it like that." Laura blushed. "It makes it sound like we did stuff." Carmilla just smirked.   
"So when's your next class?"   
"I'm done for the day. Are you going to your 6 o'clock?"   
"Nah."  
"Can I try something?" Laura eyed Carmilla's glass.   
"You don't want to drink this." The vampire replied.   
"No, no, not that. Here." She got off the bed and headed to the kitchenette, pouring a little bit of coffee in a mug, microwaving it, and adding an equal amount of blood. "Try it." She traded the warm mug for Carmilla's cool glass, watching as the vampire sniffed the mug, warily took a sip, then shrugged as she swallowed. Laura traded back, quietly apologizing for wasting her blood supply.   
"It's alright, you didn't even use that much, I can get more if I need it." Carmilla rubbed Laura's upper arm. The girls spent the rest of the afternoon and evening together, Laura delighted when Carmilla uncharacteristically curled up in bed with her, cuddling close with a grin. 


	2. Date (and Fight)

"Hey, LaFontaine?" Laura entered her friend's dorm room.   
"Hey, stay there." The redhead held a gloved hand up, safety goggles and mask also on.   
"Should I leave?"   
"Just don't get within, oh, 3 metres of this and you'll be fine." They flipped on a table fan to the right of their experiment, on the left was a large collapsible tube that led out the window. Laura watched as they dripped a clear liquid onto diced-up white something, which started to foam red and produce red gas, blown out the window.   
"Is sending that gas outside safe?" Laura asked after they'd scribbled on a piece of paper and set the pencil down.   
"Completely safe, Dating-a-Vampire." They teased, taking the mask off one ear and letting it dangle as they walked closer. "What's up?"   
"Speaking of dating a vampire, do you think you could get me some blood?"   
"Yeah, no problem, but doesn't Carmilla get her own?"   
"I want to surprise her. Also, would you happen to have Perry's hot cocoa recipe?"   
"Liking where this is going." They grinned.   
  
"Okay, I'm gonna go get Carmilla, thank you for your help LaFontaine." Laura smiled at her friend.   
"Not a problem. Text if you need help with clean up. Or anything weird." They smiled as they headed out.   
  
"Why are we having our date in the science building? If the alchemy club perfected their prehensile cheese, I don't want to know about it." Carmilla frowned.   
"It's not prehensile cheese." Laura smiled and swung their clasped hands.   
"Then what is it?"   
"A surprise, I told you. C'mon, it's on the top floor." Laura led Carmilla toward the lift, but the vampire veered toward the stairs.   
"You trust the lifts at Silas?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.   
"Yeah, I've been using this one all day." Laura responded easily. "LaFontaine and I used it together earlier, it'll support both of us."   
"I'll meet you up there, then." Carmilla gently squeezed Laura's hand before dropping it.   
"Hey, wait, I'll take the stairs with you." Laura grabbed her hand again.   
  
"Tada!" Laura gestured to the tables, where she and LaF had set up cool and warm stations with multiple cups each.   
"What is this?" Carmilla smiled.   
"You remember when I tried mixing blood and coffee? I thought we'd try again." She smiled nervously at her girlfriend.   
"You realize any of these I like, I'm going to ask you to make for me from now on?" Carmilla smirked. Laura just grinned as Carmilla walked over to the warm table, reading the label taped on a mug. "You mixed blood with Perry's cocoa? Does she know about this?"   
"No, no, LaF got the brand she uses." Laura assured as the vampire's face fell slightly. She took a hesitant sip, quickly bringing both hands to cradle the mug as she took a second, longer sip, eyelids closing slightly. "So that's a yes." Laura grinned, reaching for a piece of paper on the table, highlighting something in green.   
"The bio major rubbed off on you, did she? They?"   
"Yes, they did."   
"Mmm. I also like the hot cocoa made with blood instead of milk." Carmilla held a different mug close to her chest, smiling, having already finished the first mug. "Do you think Perry would-"   
"Carm, you have traumatized that woman enough, don't you think?" Laura interrupted. Carmilla just shrugged and took another long sip of blood cocoa.   
  
"Grape soda and blood?" The vampire asked suspiciously, sniffing the last cup, small bubbles rising to the surface. Laura shrugged, smiling hopefully. Carmilla took a sip, immediately spraying it back out and coughing as Laura jumped back.   
"Oh my gosh, Carm, are you alright?"   
"Yeah, fine. That tastes terrible." Carmilla wiped her mouth on the back of her hand and put the glass on the table.   
"I can see that." Laura noted.   
"What's next?"   
"That's everything. I couldn't get champagne. So it turns out blood and chocolate go really well together."   
"Do you have any more?" Carmilla spat on the floor. "Really like to get that taste out of my mouth."   
"I can make some quick." Laura grabbed the bag of blood and bottle of chocolate syrup, pouring a half full cup of blood and squeezing chocolate syrup in.   
"Thanks." Carmilla smiled and accepted the cup when Laura finished stirring, the mixture still slightly frothy. Laura started cleaning the cups as her girlfriend drank. "Ah, shit, I got bloody grape soda on my shirt." Carmilla declared, dismayed. A minute later she was at the sink beside Laura, clad in her bra as she hand-washed her shirt. Laura bit her lips to keep from sarcastically remarking that her girlfriend actually knew how to clean something. "No this does not mean I will play along with your stupid chore wheel." Carmilla announced. "And no I'm not psychic, you just tend to wear your emotions on your face. And living with you whining at me to clean up after myself for months on end, it's pretty easy to predict your reaction to me cleaning something." She smiled at her girlfriend.   
  


Laura sighed as she wiped up the spilled blood and grape soda on the floor; Carmilla content to place a 'wet floor' sign and leave it for someone else to clean. The vampire had actually done just that and was currently holding her newly clean shirt under the hand dryer in the ladies' room.   
  


"How do you use the shower if you're claustrophobic?" Laura asked as they walked down the stairs. Carmilla blinked quickly a few times and took a deep breath, but otherwise didn't respond. "Sorry." Laura gently squeezed their joined hands.   
"Pretty obvious, huh? I should've known falling for a journalism major was a bad idea." The vampire smiled humorlessly.   
"Is it because of, you know, your mom?"   
"Yeah, the lifts remind me of being buried alive." Carmilla stated bluntly, but quietly. "Showers not so much, but the lifts are tiny and you can't get out." She took another deep breath.   
"Would having me with you help?"   
"Oh, yeah, even less space in a tiny compartment, and the scent of blood. If I can even make myself breathe." Carmilla snapped sarcastically.   
"You can't always take the stairs." Laura frowned.   
"Yeah, I can, I'm a vampire. I can run up and down stairs faster than the lifts, and not be out of breath." She wasn't smiling.   
"Carm, this is something you should deal with. Claustrophobia is treatable. I'm trying to help."   
"How? How are you going to help me, Laura?" Carmilla demanded, dropping Laura's hand and turning to face her, nearly at the bottom of the stairs. "Go with me into the lifts where I'll go into hysterics and hurt you just to get out? Push me into a lift alone to relive being buried alive?!" She jumped the last dozen steps. "You know, I don't expect you to understand, but at least you could respect me enough not to push this." With that parting blow, Carmilla was gone, leaving Laura with tears in her eyes in the science building stairwell.   
  
Laura pulled out her phone, texting LaFontaine simply 'I need help, can we hang?'. Danny and Perry were getting better about trusting Carmilla, but LaF was the most open-minded. They replied affirmative and Laura fast-walked to their dorm, going over the fight in her head.   
"Hey, woah, what happened?" LaF asked upon opening the door and seeing Laura's face.   
"I think we had a fight. I pushed about her past and made her upset."   
"I'll give you some privacy. Text me, k?" LaFontaine's roommate asked as she left.   
"Will do, Suzanne." LaF guided Laura to their bed and grabbed a roll of toilet paper. "You had a fight about her past?" Laura nodded.   
"I was reminding her of bad stuff I guess, but I was trying to help, but she yelled at me and ran off." Laura took a few squares of tp to wipe her face. "I didn't mean to hurt her."   
"I know you don't want to reveal all her secrets, so what do you want to do about the fight? Do you want to rant at me, cry at me, watch bad scifi with me?" They offered.   
"I want to go find Carm, but I don't think she wants to see me right now. I want to make it better. That's why we fought, she doesn't want help with- with something she doesn't have to do alone. But she's so scared she doesn't want to even admit it's a problem."   
"So this is a problem from her past that's only affecting her? Aside from relationship strain?" LaF clarified.   
"Yeah."   
"Not to be rude, but I feel like this is more Perry's area of expertise, relationship problems and all. She said you should go to her with girl problems."   
"I just worry she's going to be kind of, biased against Carmilla, since she's a vampire."   
"The vampire that kicked butt and fought her own mother to protect you. And this has nothing to do with her being a vamp, it's relationship stuff. Perr will be happy we're acting like normal college kids. I'll do most of the talking if you want."   
"Okay." Laura acquiesced. LaF knocked on the wall. 


	3. Making Up

"Yes? Oh, Laura, what happened?" Perry rushed into the room almost instantly, kneeling in front of the brunette and checking her over for wounds.   
"Laura and Carmilla had an argument and she needs relationship advice." LaF informed the curly-haired woman. Perry immediately moved to sit next to Laura on LaF's bed, staring at her face. Laura glanced at the bio major for help. "Laura accidentally reminded Carmilla of bad stuff from her past, they fought, Carmilla left. She apparently refuses to admit she has a problem, which Laura wants to help with."   
"Oh, dear." Perry frowned. Laura couldn't tell if the 'dear' was directed at her, or if it was an expression of dismay. "I know you want to help your girlfriend past this hardship, but if she's not ready to face it, you can't force her." Though Perry was earnest and well-meaning, Laura got the impression she was reciting a pamphlet. "While she overreacted by fighting instead of discussing, you should try not to remind her of touchy subjects."   
"But if she'd just listen and try, I think I can help her get better." Laura insisted. "She won't even try."   
"Laura, you said she was scared." LaF added. "Fear's a really powerful thing. Her past is going to affect her, and that's one of those things you have to accept. I mean we can try subconsciously altering her reactions to certain stimuli, but you'd want a psych major for that..." They trailed off as they noticed Perry's glare. "Yeah, uh, compromising." They corrected themself flatly.   
"I know it's not what you want to hear, but you can't help her if she doesn't want help." Perry counseled.   
"Well, then, what do I do for now?" Laura asked, at a loss.   
"You communicate with her!" Perry answered emphatically. "You tell her that you're sorry you upset her, and that you'll help her when she's ready, and that her fighting and running hurt you."   
"You make it sound so easy." Laura muttered, gaze dropping to her lap.   
"I didn't catch that?" Perry ducked her head, trying to meet Laura's eyes.   
"I've just never been in a real relationship before. My dad forbade me from going out after sunset, that pretty much killed all prospects of dating in high school."   
"Maybe you could explain that to Carmilla, that this is new for you." LaFontaine suggested.   
"Yeah. I think I'll go back to our room, see if she's there. Thanks, guys." Laura hugged the pair.   
  
Laura headed down the hall and found the dorm room deserted. She sighed and changed into pajamas, not expecting Carmilla back until morning, if the vampire hadn't found a "study buddy" to stay with during the day.   
  
"Morning." Carmilla yawned as Laura turned her alarm off.   
"What are you doing up?" Laura asked. Usually the vampire just rolled over and went back to sleep when woken during the day.   
"I wanted to apologize for lashing out like that. I should've kept better control of my emotions, left sooner."   
"I'm sorry I pushed you." Laura sat up. "Can this wait until the afternoon?"   
"It can wait as long as you like." Carmilla flopped onto her bed, still fully clothed.   
"Morning. Sleep well."   
"Thanks. Have fun at class." Carmilla mumbled. Laura laughed sarcastically.   
  
She had trouble focusing through all her classes, though her teachers didn't seem to notice. She was too preoccupied with what she was going to say to Carmilla. They had a couple of hours after Laura's last class and before Carmilla's first to talk, Laura half hoped they used that time, half hoped the discussion would wait.   
  
"Carm?" Laura asked as she entered.   
"Hey, Cutie."   
"About yesterday. I'm sorry I didn't listen when you said you can't, and if you want to try in the future I'm here to help. But I totally understand if you just can't." Laura sat on the edge of her bed, facing Carmilla.   
"I'm sorry I got so mad and yelled at you, I should've left sooner. And I didn't mean what I said about you disrespecting me." Carmilla curled up sitting up on her bed, elbows resting on her knees.   
"But I was disrespecting you."   
"You were trying to help."   
"I did it in a disrespectful way."   
"You didn't, I just overreacted."   
"You're sure?" Laura wasn't entirely sure this was how making up was supposed to go.   
"Yeah."   
"So, uh, what did you do last night?"  
"Ran." Carmilla shrugged. "It gives me the illusion of doing something."   
"You ran? All night?"   
"Turned into a huge jaguar and hunted when I got tired. Then ran as a jaguar."   
"But it was night, and you're nocturnal."   
"Not sleepy tired, bodily exhausted. I do get tired, sweetheart, especially when I run as fast as I can. I need energy to do it."   
"Yeah." Laura rubbed the side of her neck. "Um, I feel like you should know this is my first relationship, and I'm trying, but I'm gonna mess up."   
"Me too." Carmilla mumbled, looking away.   
"What? But you're hundreds of years old."   
"When I was human, I was to be in an arranged marriage, but I died first, and he never really tried to court me. Most of the girls I met with Maman, we were friends at best. Elle, I tried to court her, but we never got a chance to have a relationship."   
"You don't have to continue, you don't have to explain it to me." Laura interjected. Carmilla shrugged.   
"As long as you don't go get the damned sock puppets I'll be fine. When I reentered the world, there were pretty girls, yes, but I was far too interested in seeing everything and avoiding my mother. After Maman found me, my main focus was getting the girls to run when I could, didn't want to get attached and have Elle happen again. Never been in a relationship." She shrugged again.   
"Then we'll figure it out together." Laura smiled and sat beside Carmilla to hug her; Carmilla smiling in response and turning her head to kiss Laura's cheek. 


End file.
